CHAPTER 64
In my diary of our third day in Honolulu, I find this:
IⒶemendation am probably the most sensitive man in HawaiiⒶemendation to-night—especially about sitting down in the presence of my betters. I have ridden fifteen or twenty miles on horsebackⒶemendation since 5 p.m. Ⓐemendation, and to tell the honest truth, I have a delicacy about sitting down at all.Ⓐemendation
An excursion to Diamond Head and the King’s Cocoanut Grove was planned to-day—time, 4:30 p.m. Ⓐemendation—the party to consist of half a dozen gentlemen and three ladies. They all started at the appointed hour except myself. I was at the Government PrisonⒺexplanatory note, (with Capt. Fish and another whaleship-skipper, Capt.Ⓐemendation PhillipsⒺexplanatory note,)Ⓐemendation and got so interested in its examination that I did not notice how quickly the time was passing. Somebody remarked that it was twenty minutes past five o’clock, and that woke me up. It was a fortunate circumstance that Capt.Ⓐemendation Phillips was alongⒶemendation with his “turn-out,” as he calls a top-buggy that Capt.Ⓐemendation CookⒺexplanatory note brought here in 1778, and a horse that was here when Capt. Cook came. Capt.Ⓐemendation Phillips takes a just pride in his driving and in the speed of his horse, and to his passion for displaying them I owe it that we were only sixteen minutes coming from the prison to the American HotelⒺexplanatory note—a distance which has been estimated to be over half a mile. But it took some fearfulⒶemendation driving. The captain’sⒶemendation whip came down fast, and the blows started so much dust out of the horse’s hide that during the last half of the journey we rode through an impenetrable fog, and ran by a pocket compass in the hands of Capt.Ⓐemendation Fish, a whalerⒶemendation of twenty-six years’Ⓐemendation experience, who sat there through theⒶemendation perilous voyage as self-possessed as if he had been on the euchre-deck of his own ship, and calmly said, “Port your helm—port,” from time to time, and “Hold her a little free—steady—so-o,” and “Luff—hard down to starboard!” and never once lost his presence of mind or betrayed the least anxiety by voice or manner. When we came to anchor at last, [begin page 437] and Capt.Ⓐemendation Phillips looked at his watch and said, “Sixteen minutes—I told you it was in her! that’s over three miles an hour!” I could see he felt entitled to a compliment, and so I said I had never seen lightning go like that horse. And I never had.
TheⒶemendation landlord of the American said the party had been gone nearly an hour, but that he could give me my choice of several horses that could overtakeⒶemendation them. I said, never mind—I preferred a safe horse to a fast one—I would like to have an excessively gentle horse—a horse with no spirit whatever—a lame one, if he had such a thing. Inside of five minutes I was mounted, and perfectly satisfied with my outfit. I had no time to label him “This is a horse,” and so if the public took him for a sheep I cannot help it. I was satisfied, and that was the main thing. I could see that he had as many fine points as any man’s horse, and so IⒶemendation hung my hat on one of them, behind the saddle, and swabbed the perspiration from my face and started. I named him after this island, “Oahu” (pronounced O-waw-hooⒶemendation). The first gate he came to he started in; I had neither whip nor spur, and so I simply argued the case with him. He resistedⒶemendation argument, but ultimately yielded to insult and abuse. He backed out of that gate and steered for another one on the other side of the street. I triumphed by my former process. Within the next six hundred yards he crossed the street fourteen times and attempted thirteen gates, and in the meantime the tropical sun was beating down and threatening to cave the top of my head in, and I was literally dripping with perspiration. He abandonedⒶemendation the gate business after that and went along peaceably enough, but absorbed in meditation. I noticed this latter circumstance, and it soon began to fill me with apprehensionⒶemendation. I said to myself, this creatureⒶemendation is planning some new outrage, some fresh deviltry or other—no horse ever thought over a subject so profoundly as this one is doing just for nothing. The more this thing preyed upon my mind the more uneasy I became, untilⒶemendation the suspense became almostⒶemendation unbearable and I dismounted to see if there was anything wild in his eye—for I had heard that the eye of this noblest of our domestic animals is very expressive. I cannot describe what a load of anxiety was lifted from my mind when I found that he was only asleep. I woke him up and started him into a faster walk, and then the villainyⒶemendation of his nature came out again. He tried to climb over a stone wall, five or [begin page 438] six feet high. I saw that I must apply force to this horse, and that I might as well begin first as last. I plucked a stout switch from a tamarind tree, and the moment he saw it, he surrenderedⒶemendation. He broke into a convulsive sort of a canter, which had three short steps in it and one long one, and reminded me alternately of the clattering shake of the great earthquake, and the sweeping plunging of the Ajax in a stormⒺexplanatory note.
And nowⒶemendation there can be no fitter occasion than the present to pronounce a left-handed blessingⒶemendation upon the man who invented the American saddle. There is no seat to speak of about it—one might as well sit in a shovel—and the stirrups are nothing but an ornamental nuisance. If I were to write down here all the abuse I expended on those stirrups, it would make a large book, even without pictures. Sometimes I got one foot so far through, that the stirrup partook of the nature of an anklet; sometimes both feet were through, and I was handcuffed by the legs;Ⓐemendation and sometimes my feet got clear out and left the stirrups wildly dangling about my shins. Even when I was in proper position and carefully balanced upon the balls of my feet, there was no comfort in it, on account of my nervous dread that they were going to slip one way or the other in a moment. But the subject is too exasperating to write about.Ⓐtextual note
[begin page 439] AⒶemendation mile and a half from town, I came to a grove of tall cocoanutⒶemendation trees, with clean, branchless stems reaching straight up sixty or seventy feet and topped with a spray of green foliage sheltering clusters of cocoanutsⒶemendation—not more picturesqueⒶemendation than a forest of colossal ragged parasols, with bunches of magnified grapes under them, would be. I once heard a grouty northern invalid say that a cocoanutⒶemendation tree might be poetical, possibly it was; but it looked like a feather-duster struck by lightning. I think that describes it better than a picture—and yet, without any question, there is something fascinating about a cocoanutⒶemendation tree—and graceful, too.Ⓐemendation
AboutⒶemendation a dozen cottages, some frame and the others of native grass, nestled sleepily in the shade here and there. The grass cabins are of a grayish color, are shaped much like our own cottages, only with higher and steeper roofs usually, and are made of some kind of weed strongly bound together in bundles. The roofs are very thick, and so are the walls; the latter have square holes in them for windows. At a little distance these cabins have a furry appearance, as if they might be made of bear skins. They are very cool and pleasant inside. The King’s flag was flying from the roof of one of the cottages, and hisⒶemendation Majesty was probably within. He owns the whole concern thereabouts, and passes his time there frequently, on sultry days “laying off.” The spot is called “The King’s Grove.”Ⓔexplanatory note
NearⒶemendation by is an interesting ruin—the meagreⒶemendation remains of an ancient heathen temple—a place where human sacrifices were offered up in those old bygone days when the simple child of nature, [begin page 440] yielding momentarily to sin when sorely tempted, acknowledged his error when calm reflection had shown it toⒶemendation him, and came forward with noble frankness and offered up his grandmotherⒶemendation as an atoning sacrifice—in those old days when the luckless sinner could keep on cleansing his conscience and achieving periodical happiness as long as his relations held out; long, long before the missionaries braved a thousand privations to come and make them permanently miserable by telling them how beautiful and how blissful a place heaven is, and how nearly impossibleⒶemendation it is to get there; and showed the poor native how dreary a place perdition is and what unnecessarily liberal facilities there are for going to it; showed him how, in his ignorance, he had gone and fooled away all his kin-folksⒶemendation to no purpose; showed him what rapture it is to work all day long for fifty cents to buy food for next day with, as compared with fishing for pastime and lolling in the shade through eternal summerⒶemendation, and eating of the bounty that nobody labored to provide but Nature. How sad it is to think of the multitudes who have gone to their graves in this beautiful island and never knew there was a hell!
ThisⒶemendation ancient temple was built of rough blocks of lava, and was simply a roofless enclosureⒶemendation a hundred and thirty feet long and seventy wide—nothing but nakedⒶemendation walls, very thick, but not much higher than a man’s head. They will last for ages, no doubt, if left unmolested. Its three altars and other sacred appurtenances have crumbled and passed away years ago. It is said that in the old times thousands of human beings were slaughtered here, in the presence of naked and howling savages. If these mute stones could speak, what tales they could tell, what pictures they could describe, of fettered victims writhingⒶemendation under the knife; of massedⒶemendation forms straining forward out of the gloom, with ferociousⒶemendation faces lit up by theⒶemendation sacrificial fires; of the backgroundⒶemendation of ghostly treesⒶemendation; of the dark pyramid of Diamond Head standing sentinel over the uncannyⒶemendation scene, and the peaceful moon lookingⒶemendation down upon it through rifts in the cloud-rackⒶemendation!
When Kamehameha (pronounced Ka-may-ha-may-ah) the Great—who was a sort of aⒶemendation NapoleonⒺexplanatory note in military genius and uniform success—invaded this island of Oahu three-quarters of a centuryⒶemendation ago, and exterminated the army sent to oppose him, and took [begin page 441] full and final possession of the countryⒺexplanatory note, he searched out the dead body of the KingⒶemendation of Oahu, and those of the principal chiefs, and impaled their heads onⒶemendation the wallsⒺexplanatory note of this temple.
Those were savage times when this old slaughter-house was in its prime. The KingⒶemendation and the chiefs ruled the common herd with a rod of iron; made them gather all the provisions the masters needed; build all the houses and temples; stand all the expenses, of whatever kind; take kicks and cuffs for thanks; drag out lives well flavored with misery, and then suffer death for trifling offenses or yield up their lives on the sacrificial altars to purchase favors from the gods for their hard rulers. The missionaries have clothed them, educated them, broken up the tyrannous authority of their chiefs, and given them freedom and the right to enjoy whatever their handsⒶemendation and brains produceⒶemendation, with equal laws for all and punishment for all alike who transgress them. The contrast is so strong—the benefitⒶemendation conferred upon this people by the missionaries is so prominent, so palpable and so unquestionable, that the frankest compliment I can pay them, and the best, is simply to point to the condition of the Sandwich Islanders of Capt.Ⓐemendation Cook’s time, and their condition to-day. Their work speaks for itselfⒺexplanatory note.Ⓔexplanatory note Ⓐemendation